Report: Carrier Wi-Fi equipment market booming

Pushed along by mobile operators using Wi-Fi for data offload, operators will spend $8.5 billion on carrier Wi-Fi equipment over the next five years.

Globally, revenue for carrier Wi-Fi equipment, including carrier Wi-Fi access points and Wi-Fi hotspot controllers, totaled $338 million in the first half of this year, according to a report by Infonetics Research.

“This strong growth will gain additional impetus from the proliferation of small cells with integrated WiFi over the coming years,” said Richard Webb directing analyst for microwave and carrier WiFi at Infonetics Research.

To date, carrier Wi-Fi revenue has already surpassed two-thirds of the total revenue posted last year.

Currently, the top carrier Wi-Fi vendors are Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei, Ruckus, and Alcatel-Lucent, but Infonetics said the order could be shuffled as more operators light up Wi-Fi services.

While North America has consistently dominated carrier Wi-Fi revenue share since 2007, though by 2017 regional share shifts to Asia Pacific and EMEA, according to Infonetics.

Pushed along by mobile operators using Wi-Fi for data offload, operators will spend $8.5 billion on carrier Wi-Fi equipment over the next five years. Globally, revenue for carrier Wi-Fi equipment, including carrier Wi-Fi access points and Wi-Fi hotspot controllers, totaled $338 million in the first half of this year, according to a report by Infonetics Research.